Asphalt spreader

ABSTRACT

A road surfacing machine including a hopper, for receiving road surfacing material, such as asphalt and the like, having downwardly converging side walls, and a discharge opening at the lower end thereof. A vertically inclined baffle plate is adjustably mounted in the hopper for lateral movement between selected, laterally spaced positions to cover selected portions of the opening.

ilieed @iies me [1 1 Keenan 1 May 29, 1975 [54] ASPHALT SPREADER [75] Inventor:

[73] Assignee: R. E. (Iorpomtion, Saginaw Mich.

[22] Filed: Mar. 14, W74

[21] Appl. No: 451,220

George R. Keenan. Saginmm Mich.

[52] US. C1 222/176; 404/108 [51] Km. C1. A01 15/00 [58] Field of Search 222/176; 404/101, 104, 404/108, 110

[56] Refierences Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,520,059 12/1924 Jeffrey 404/110 2,089,094 8/1937 Kime 1 404/104 2,401820 7/1946 Miller 404/110 3.058.404 10/1962 Widelo .1 404/108 1109,3512 11/1963 Mack 404/110 3373,66) 3/1968 Schmidt 404/1 10 Primary Examiner-Stanley H. Tollberg Assistant Examiner-liadd Lane Atmrney, Agenl, or Firm-Leax'man & McCulioch [57] ABSTRACT A road surfacing machine including a hopper, for receiving road surfacing mateiial, such as asphalt and the like, having downwardly converging side walls, and a discharge opening at the lower end thereof. A vertically inclined baffle pia'ie is adjustably moumed in the hopper for iatera! movement between selected iaterafly spaced positions to cover selected portions of the opening.

8 Ciaims, 9 Drawing Figures PATENTEB MAY 2 0 I975 SHEET 2 Ba"- 2 ASPHALT SPREADER BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to apparatus for applying surfacing material to a road, and more particularly to an asphalt spreader for selectively applying differing width strips of asphalt to the shoulder portion of a road partially covered with asphalt.

Many roads are only partially covered with asphalt and include dirt shoulders. To improve the aesthetic appearance of such roads, municipalities frequently cover the dirt shoulders with asphalt and construct curbs at the lateral edges of the shoulders. For various reasons, existing asphalt spreaders are not well suited for this purpose. Accordingly, it is an object of the pres ent invention to provide an asphalt spreader which is particularly adapted for widening an asphalt covering for a road.

As would be expected, the dirt shoulders to be covered are not always of the same width and thus, it is important that a machine of this type be adaptable to apply asphalt in differing widths. Accordingly, it is another object of the present invention to provide a road surfacing machine for applying asphalt in differing width strips to the shoulder portions of roads partially covered with asphalt.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a road surfacing machine of the type described including a hopper having vertically downwardly converging front and rear side walls, spanned by downwardly converging end walls, and a vertically inclined baffle plate, configured to mate with the front and rear side walls, laterally movable to close selected portions of an opening in the lower end of the hopper.

Asphalt is generally laid after being heated so that it will flow easily and can be worked if necessary prior to cooling and hardening. If the hopper is constructed such that projections, obstructions and the like impede or obstruct the free flow of the asphalt material, the asphalt material will collect, cool, harden, and degrade. Some of the degraded material may pass through the hopper to contaminate the final product. It is thus important that any apparatus for controlling the size of the hopper opening be of such construction as to eliminate any areas where the asphalt material can collect and degrade.

Machines of the type disclosed herein are conventionally drawn behind a dump truck having an asphaltcarrying dump box swingably mounted at the rear end thereof. When the asphalt spreader is to be moved between job sites or is to be returned to a storage area at night, for example, it is important that the dump truck travel at a relatively high rate of speed. The asphalt spreader is generally mounted on skids or small wheels which would be damaged if subjected to such high speeds. Accordingly, it is still another object of the present invention to provide an asphalt spreader of the type disclosed herein which may be carried by the rear end of a swingable dump truck box for movement between a raised, inoperative position when the dump truck travels at high rates of speed, and a lowered ground engaging asphalt spreading position when the truck travels slowly.

When a dump truck is being backed toward the spreader to a position in which the spreader can be hitched or coupled to the dump truck, the driver generally can not see the spreader hitch and therefore might occasionally back the truck into the spreader. If a person must hold the spreader hitch when the dump truck is backing toward the spreader the person is subjected to the danger of being pinched therebetween if the driver does not stop at the proper time. Accordingly, a further object of the present invention is to provide an asphalt spreader of the type disclosed herein which can be safely coupled to and decoupled from a draft vehicle.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide a road surfacing machine of the type disclosed having a vertically movable draft tongue at the front of an asphalt-receiving hopper and a lever at the back of a hopper for raising the draft tongue at the front of the hopper to accommodate hitching.

Since the spreader will be adding material to an existing asphalt road surface, part of the machine will ride on the asphalt surface and part of the machine will ride on the shoulder. Roads are generally constructed such that the shoulders are lower than the crown so that rain water will quickly run off and thus the wheel or skid which rides on the shoulder, will be at a substantially lower level than the wheel or skid riding on the asphalt surface. Accordingly, yet another object of the present invention is to provide a road surfacing machine of the type disclosed herein having mechanism for individually vertically adjusting opposite ends of the material supplying hopper to accommodate the hopper to various sloping surfaces or ground conditions so that an asphalt layer of uniform thickness can be laid.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art as the description thereof proceeds.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A road surfacing machine including a hopper which is mountable on the rear of a swingable dump truck box for swinging movement therewith and which includes adjustable cutoff mechanism. for controlling the size of an opening at the bottom of an asphalt-receiving hopper.

The present invention may more readily be understood by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a partly sectional, side elevational view illustrating a road surfacing machine constructed according to the present invention connected to a dump truck;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view, taken along the line 22 of FIG. 1, but rotated FIG. 3 is a front elevational view of the apparatus illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, part of the hopper being broken away to more clearly illustrate a cutoff plate disposed therein;

FIG. 4 is a slightly reduced, perspective view illustrating apparatus for controlling the level of the tongue at the front of the machine;

FIG. 5 is a slightly reduced view illustrating the machine carried by the dump truck in an elevated position;

FIG. 6 is a slightly reduced sectional front view illustrating a slightly modified construction;

FIG. 7 is a sectional end view taken along the line 7-7 of FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a top plan view of another slightly modified cutoff plate; and

FIG. 9 is a sectional view, taken along the line 99 of FIG. 8.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT An asphalt spreader constructed according to the present invention is generally designated 10 and is particularly adapted for use with a dump truck, generally designated 11 (FIG. 5) for adding an asphalt strip 12 to the shoulder 12a (FIG. 3) of a road R partially covered with a central asphalt covering 13. The truck 11 includes a frame 14 mounting road engageable wheels 15 and having a material receiving dump box 16 which is swingable on the frame 14 for movement between the generally horizontal position, illustrated in FIG. 5, and a vertically inclined position illustrated in FIG. 1. A tail gate 18 (FIG. 1) is mounted at the rear of the box 16 and is swingable outwardly relative to the box 16 when the box 16 is raised to the position illustrated in FIG. 1 to enable hot asphalt material, generally designated 20, to slide out the rear of the box 16 in the direction represented by the arrow 21 (FIG. 1).

The asphalt spreader 10 includes a frame generally designated 24, having end frame member 26 spanned by a rear platform 28 which will support a workman. Front and rear sets of ground engaging wheels 32 are journaled in bearing blocks 34 which are fixed to the underside of the end frame members 26.

Swingably mounted on vertically inclined, hopper mounting portions 30, which are welded to the front of the frame 24, is an asphalt receiving hopper, generally designated 36, including confronting, downwardly converging front and rear walls 38 and 40 spanned by confronting, downwardly converging end walls 42. The asphalt receiving hopper 36, which is open at its upper end to receive material from the truck box 16, includes an opening 44 at its lower end for permitting hot asphalt material 20 to pass therethrough onto the road being covered.

The asphalt receiving hopper 36 is swingably mounted on the upstanding frame bars 30 by a parallel linkage system including pairs of vertically spaced links 46 pivotally connected at 48 and 50 to the frame 30 and front wall 38 of the hopper 36. Frame bars 51, fixed to the front and rear hopper walls 38 and 40, extend downwardly alongside the side frame members 26 to preclude lateral movement of the hopper 36.

A hitch or tongue 52 is pivotally mounted on a pair of frame members 53, which are fixed to the front wall 38, for connection to a partible hitch 54 that is mounted on the dump truck frame 14, including upper and lower partible hitch sections 55 and 56. The tongue 52 is movable bodily between raised and lowered positions and is of such length that the hopper 36 will be disposed in position to receive hot asphalt material 20 passing through the rear of the box 16.

As illustrated in FIG. 3, when the asphalt spreader 10 applies the asphalt strip 12 to the shoulder 12a of a road R to increase the width of an existing asphalt layer 13, one of the spreader wheels 32 will ride atop the previously applied asphalt layer 13 whereas the other wheel 32 will ride on the shoulder 12a. So that the strip 12 will have a uniform thickness t, apparatus is provided for individually elevating each end of the hopper 36 independently of the other end and includes laterally spaced pairs of rearwardly extending frame bars 58 connected to the rear hopper wall 40. Dependent legs 59 are fixed to the frame bars 58 and are pivotally connected to links 60 which are pivotally mounted at 61 to an upstanding support member 62 on the side frame member 26. .Iournaled between each pair of frame bars 58 is a screw receiving nut 64 which can swing about transversely extending nut mounting pins 66. The nuts 64 receive threaded screw jacks 68 which are mounted on the frame 26 by suitable mounts 70 and are turned about their axes via handles 72.

The rear hopper wall 40 of the hopper 36 is supported on the dump box 16 via a pair of chains 74 including hooks 76 which hook over the top rear portion of the box 16. When the dump box 16 is swung upwardly to the inclined position, illustrated in FIG. 1, the asphalt spreader 10 will ride along the ground and will receive hot asphalt material 20 sliding out the rear of the box 16. When the box 16 is swung downwardly to the position illustrated in FIG. 5, the asphalt spreader 10 will be raised therewith to a position suspended above the ground, as illustrated in FIG. 5, so that the machine may be transported at a rapid rate.

To permit the asphalt spreader 10 to apply asphalt material 20 in differing width strips, a movable wall or cutoff plate, generally designated 78, is disposed in the hopper 36 and includes upwardly diverging front and rear edge portions 79 and 80 which mate with the upwardly converging front and rear hopper walls 38 and 40 so that asphalt material 20 can not pass therebetween when the cutout plate 78 is in the position illustrated in FIG. 2. Upwardly concave, V-shaped notches 81 are provided at the lower end of the side walls 38 and 40 for receiving the lower end 82 of the plate 78. A reinforcing strip 83 is provided on the back of the plate to increase the rigidity of the sheet.

When the tongue 52 of the asphalt spreader 10 is being connected to the hitch 54 of the dump truck 16, it is hazardous for an operator to stand between the truck and the spreader 10. Accordingly, apparatus generally designated 84 (FIG. 4), remote from the tongue, is provided for raising and lowering the tongue 52 and includes an L-shaped bar 86 which is connected to the underside of the tongue 52 and to a link 88 that is fixed to a transverse bar 89 journaled in supports 91 (FIG. 3). A parallelogram linkage system, generally designated 90, is provided for vertically oscillating the bar 89 and tongue 52 and includes a pair of upstanding front and rear links 92 spanned by a pivotally connected bar 92a. The rear link 92 is connected to a transversely extending, L-shaped lever 94 pivotally mounted on a frame member 95. When the handle 96 of the L-shaped lever 94 is moved in a to-and-fro path of travel, the tongue 52 is swung upwardly and downwardly so that it can be aligned with the partible hitch 54. When the spreader 10 is being carried in the inoperative position, illustrated in FIG. 5, the upper surface of the link 52 bears against the front wall 38.

THE OPERATION The asphalt spreader 10 is normally drawn behind the dump truck 11 in the ground engaging position, illustrated in FIG. 1, so as to receive hot asphalt material 20 passing through the rear of the dump box 16. The plate 78 is laterally adjusted to any one of a number of different positions to control the size of the opening 44 and the width of the asphalt strip 12 being added. The attitude of the hopper relative to the frame can be adjusted by the screws 68 so that an asphalt strip 12 of substantially uniform thickness 2 can be applied to the road.

When the work is complete or the truck 11 and spreader are to be stored at night, the spreader It) may be safely, rapidly transported by merely lowering the dump box 16 to the position illustrated in FIG. 5 to raise the spreader 10 to the inoperative position, illustrated in FIG. 5, removed from the road.

THE ALTERNATE CONSTRUCTIONS Referring now more particularly to FIGS. 6 and 7 the V-shaped notches 81 have been replaced by inwardly projecting pairs of pins 82a and the cutoff plate 78 has been replaced by a cutoff plate 78a having at its lower end, downwardly concave members 81a for receiving any related pair of the various sets of pins 82a. At the upper end of the plate 7 8a, outwardly projecting pairs of support pins 93 are provided and rest on the top of the front and rear walls 38 and 40. The upper end of the plate 78a may rest on selected pairs of the pins 93 so that the plate parallels the adjacent end wall of the hopper.

The cutoff plate, illustrated in FIGS. 8 and 9, and generally designated 78!), includes a pair of partially overlapping, trapezoidally shaped sections 97 and 98 having vertically aligned apertures 99 therein for receiving bolts 100 which couple the plates together. The plates 97 and 98 may be adjusted as the plate moves between the various laterally spaced position (as illustrated in FIG. 3) to accommodate to different positions 1 of the front and rear hopper walls 38, 40.

It is to be understood that the drawings and descriptive matter are in all cases to be interpreted as merely illustrative of the principles of the invention rather than as limiting the same in any way, since it is contemplated that various changes may be made in various elements to achieve like results without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. Apparatus for use in laying a strip of flowable material alongside a road or the like, said apparatus comprising a frame; ground engaging means supporting said frame for movement; an open top hopper carried by said frame for receiving and discharging said material, said hopper comprising confronting, downwardly converging front and rear walls and confronting, downwardly converging end walls, said front and rear walls and said end walls terminating short of convergence to form an opening at the bottom of said hopper through which said material may be discharged; a movable wall member having downwardly tapering sides corresponding to the convergence of said front and rear Walls so as to be interposed between said end walls with its lower edge at the bottom of said hopper and with said sides in engagement with the front and rear walls; and means carried by said hopper for supporting the lower edge of said movable wall at any selected one of a number of positions between said end walls, whereby the size of said opening may be varied according to the position of the lower end of said movable wall.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1 including additional support means carried by said hopper adjacent its upper end for supporting said movable wall at an inclination.

3. Apparatus according to claim 2 wherein said additional support means support said movable wall in a position substantially parallel to one of said end walls.

4. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the means carried by said hopper for supporting the lower edge of said movable wall comprises a plurality of pairs of upwardly concave members adjacent the opening at the bottom of said hopper.

5. Apparatus according to claim I wherein the means carried by said hopper for supporting the lower edge of said movable wall comprises a plurality of pairs of pins adjacent the opening at the bottom of said hopper.

6. Apparatus according to claim 5 wherein said movable wall has a pair of downwardly concave members at its lower edge adapted to receive a selected pair of said pins.

7. Apparatus according to claim 1 including a hitch for connection to a draft vehicle; means mounting said hitch on said frame for bodily movements between raised and lowered positions; and linkage means remote from said hitch and coupled to the latter for moving said hitch between said positions.

8. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said movable wall comprises a pair of partially overlapping, trapezoid-shaped members having aligned apertures therein; and adjustable means coupling said members to one another to enable said members to be adjusted relatively to one another and thereby vary the width of said wall. 

1. Apparatus for use in laying a strip of flowable material alongside a road or the like, said apparatus comprising a frame; ground engaging means supporting said frame for movement; an open top hopper carried by said frame for receiving and discharging said material, said hopper comprising confronting, downwardly converging front and rear walls and confronting, downwardly converging end walls, said front and rear walls and said end walls terminating short of convergence to form an opening at the bottom of said hopper through which said material may be discharged; a movable wall member having downwardly tapering sides corresponding to the convergence of said front and rear walls so as to be interposed between said end walls with its lower edge at the bottom of said hopper and with said sides in engagement with the front and rear walls; and means carried by said hopper for supporting the lower edge of said movable wall at any selected one of a number of positions between said end walls, whereby the size of said opening may be varied according to the position of the lower end of said movable wall.
 2. Apparatus according to claim 1 including additional support means carried by said hopper adjacent its upper end for supporting said movable wall at an inclination.
 3. Apparatus according to claim 2 wherein said additional support means support said movable wall in a position substantially parallel to one of said end walls.
 4. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the means carried by said hopper for supporting the lower edge of said movable wall comprises a plurality of pairs of upwardly concave members adjacent the opening at the bottom of said hopper.
 5. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the means carried by said hopper for supporting the lower edge of said movable wall comprises a plurality of pairs of pins adjacent the opening at the bottom of said hopper.
 6. Apparatus according to claim 5 wherein said movable wall has a pair of downwardly concave members at its lower edge adapted to receive a selected pair of said pins.
 7. Apparatus according to claim 1 including a hitch for connection to a draft vehicle; means mounting said hitch on said frame for bodily movements between raised and lowered positions; and linkage means remote from said hitch and coupled to the latter for moving said hitch between said positions.
 8. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said movable wall comprises a pair of partially overlapping, trapezoid-shaped members having aligned apertures therein; and adjustable means coupling said members to one another to enable said members to be adjusted relatively to one another and thereby vary the width of said wall. 